Boxing Day
26th of December and we decided to go down into San Francisco again. We’ve got two missions; one to see the art store, Flax, that our friend, Kathy told us about and the other, to return to the FillMore District and further explore the area.
After breakfast at Dave’s, we’re off by car to Concord where we catch the BART to Powell Station in the SF downtown area.
Bart’s a good system; comparable, I think, to the system we saw in Vancouver, B.C.
First, we strike out for Flax, which is at Valencia and Market, by walking down Market.
It’s an interesting walk. Some rough areas to walk through. Lot’s of bums and such but it never felt actually dangerous.
Eventually, we reached the store and it turned out be everything that Kathy had said. A huge art supplies store that has apparently been there since the 1930’s. Colette shopped for hard-to-find paper materials and I bought a small sketchbook and fine pen which I’ll use in the next few days to prepare sketches of how to construct a greenhouse for my friend, Kael. We’re going to meet with him in San Jose on December 28th.
After the art store, we struck out for the Fillmore District. Another interesting walk through some semi-rough neighborhoods. We struck Fillmore pretty far south of the district we remembered. We walked Fillmore for a long time going north before we hit the area we remembered.
It was nice; much as we remembered. We had lunch at a small pizza place, Inferno’s, and then walked up and down the area. Temptations to buy things were everywhere but we’re being quite wary about this as each of our suitcases home can only weigh 23kg.
After Fillmore, we took another long walk back to Union Square. That area was fun. It was thronged with people. Must have been after-Christmas sales. Colette and I actually rearranged our bags to hold them in front of us due to the possibility of pickpockets.
We caught the BART back to Concord. It’s a 30 to 40 minute trip. Very nice since all I had to do was look out the window and not drive. Cost was $5.20 USD, if I’m remembering correctly. Dave says BART can be a rougher experience though on rush-hour regular workdays. I wouldn’t doubt it. The Bay Area is a big place with zillions of people.
Back at Dave’s, Colette and I have a small Sushi pack from the local market and some left overs from yesterday’s feast and chat with Dave about his day. An that was another fine day. No movies to night.
dennis
Yay! Glad Flax was a success. You were totally in my old stomping grounds. Glad you got to experience a few different areas of San Francisco. There’s just so much there!